A New Perspective
by CheerUpSleepyJean
Summary: A Star Trek: the Next Generation/Star Wars crossover AU! This takes place between Episodes IV and V. The crew of the Millennium Falcon needs another droid. Guess who they find?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:  
The hyperdrive was broken.  
Again.  
Han Solo, Captain of the speedy rust-bucket known as the Millennium Falcon, groaned in frustration.  
"What is it THIS TIME, Chewie?"  
"Gaaaaagh!"  
Han's hairy companion waved wildly at the computer, the meaning behind his growls clear: "How should I know?"  
"Beep beep whistle!"  
"R2 says that the alluvial dampeners have malfunctioned, causing the hyperdrive to overheat. Unfortunately, a few components have melted."  
Han snarled. "Can you fix it? We need to get outta here!"  
"I am sorry sir, but it would take us three weeks to complete the repairs even if we had the necessary materials."  
"Arrrrgh!"  
"What's going on out here?" Frowning, Princess Leia emerged from the cockpit of the ship.  
"Looks like we're gonna be here awhile, Your Highnessness."  
"Oh, no...this bucket of bolts broke down AGAIN?"  
"Hey! This ship-"  
"Han! Leia!" Luke Skywalker poked his head into the room as well. "Forget the arguing for once—we're in trouble! The Empire'll catch up to us soon unless we get this fixed!"  
Leia sighed. "You're right. Are there any friendly systems near here where we could get help?"  
Han dashed into the cockpit and checked their coordinates on the computer.  
"Nothing out here but a couple of seedy trade outposts. These pirates aren't friends of the Empire, but we're in the middle of nowhere. Finding the parts will be hard enough, much less finding a mechanic."  
"But fixing this by ourselves will take weeks!" Luke whined.  
"I KNOW" yelled Han. He sighed again, his anger draining away. "I know. But there's nothing else we can do."

A half hour later, the Falcon had successfully docked with a sleazy cargo freight whose captain had promised parts for ANY ship for prices "lower than the Emperor's conscience."  
Han and Luke allowed them to be dragged along by "Captain" Zed, who had not stopped babbling about his wares from the moment they got onto his ship.  
"...busted hyperdrive, eh? I've got everything you could possibly need—in 8 different colors, no less!"  
"Now if only we could buy another pair of hands..." muttered Han.  
Luke stopped in his tracks.  
"That's it!"  
He trotted up to the old captain and tapped one of his four shoulders.  
"What kind of droids do you have?"  
Zed somehow brightened even more.  
"All kinds, all shapes, all sizes, my good man!"  
"Wait just a moment, kid!"  
Han grabbed Luke by the arm and pulled him out of hearing range of the captain.  
"You've seen this guy's wares! What makes you think he has any working droids?"  
"It can't hurt to look!"  
With that, Luke caught up to the Zed, leaving Han to reluctantly follow.  
"Now, what kind of droid do fellows need?"  
"Well—"  
Han broke in. "We're looking for one with engineering and mechanical knowledge. Do you have any astrodroids?"  
"Plenty!"  
"Do you have any DECENT astrodroids?"  
Zed opened his mouth, then snapped it closed again.  
"Maybe you'd better see for yourselves."  
He led Luke and Han into a storage room, where five beat-up units sat, all leaking dark fluids and giving off strange gases. Scattered around them were rusted fragments of other droids.  
Luke wrinkled his nose.  
"What else you got?"  
The captain looked thoughtful for a moment.  
"Well, there's this one droid...we found it on a little broken shuttlecraft drifting on the edge of a nearby system a few years ago. I have no idea where it's from, how old it is, or who made it—but it's in great shape."  
Han rolled his eyes; Zed looked offended.  
"Well, maybe it's a bit scratched up, but the thing is working fine! We've plugged it into the computer, so it's thoroughly updated on the latest mechanic and engineering techniques. Perfect for your ship!"  
Han looked skeptical.  
"If it's so 'perfect,' how come no one else has bought it yet?"  
"Er..." Zed bit his lip. "You'll understand when you see it."  
He took an electronic key from his belt, and opened up a small closet in the back of the dingy cargo room.  
"Get on out here! These fellows want to take a look at you!"  
Luke and Han could see a humanoid, masculine figure rise slowly to its feet in the room. From the darkness, the droid emerged.  
They both took a step backward in shock; this droid was unlike any they had ever seen. Instead of metal plating, it was covered in a chalky white latex skin. Over its skin, it wore clothing: a baggy, oversized tunic—judging from the four sleeves, probably one of Zed's—and a patched pair of trousers. It even had dark, wiry hair on the top of its head. However, the most disconcerting features were the droid's yellow eyes, which gleamed as brightly as the rays of Tatooine's twin suns.  
"What the..." Han breathed. He had seen many strange things in his life of adventure, but this took the cake. "Who ever heard of a droid with hair?" He thought.  
Luke was equally stunned. If it hasn't been for the large tears in the skin that revealed the machinery within, he never would have guessed that the figure in front of him wasn't an organic life-form.  
Han looked at Luke.  
"No way."  
"We need the help, Han!" He stepped up to the droid.  
"How good are you with engines?"  
"I studied probability mechanics for four years, sir, and have over a decade of practical experience."  
Luke turned to Han.  
"You see? He'll do fine."  
"I don't doubt it, but I just find it—er, him—a bit...well, you know...  
"Unnerving?" the droid interjected.  
"That's it!" Han said. "Kid, even the droid agrees with me."  
"We don't have a choice, Han. Now pay the man, and let's get..." Luke looked at the droid. "What do they call you?"  
"I am Data, sir."  
"Let's get Data back to the Falcon."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I recently noticed that all of the em-dashes in my writing were turned into en-dashes when I uploaded my fics. I've just been going through and fixing that in order to make my fics a little easier to read. **

Chapter 2:  
"Beep beep whistle!"  
"Don't use that tone with me, R2! It certainly wasn't my fault that..."  
"Beep!"  
"What...? Oh!"  
Noticing a pale, slender humanoid figure in the doorway of the engine room, C-3PO and R2-D2 both turned.  
"Hello, sir! I am C-3PO: human-cyborg relations, and this is R2-D2. How may we be of service?"  
"Thank you, but am not in need of assistance—and it is unnecessary to address me as 'sir.' I am also a droid."  
"Oh!"  
C3PO and R2 looked him up and down, noting sloppily stitched-up tears in the skin of his left cheek, on his right arm, and across his skinny shoulders, the latter being visible despite the ratty tunic.  
"Pardon me, but...what sort of droid, exactly?"  
"I am an android. My name is Data."  
"Data," 3PO hesitated for a moment. "What is your function?"  
Data blinked.  
"I have no assigned function; instead, I possess the capacity to learn and develop new skills."  
There was another pause as 3PO and R2 digested this information.  
"Beep beep!"  
"Don't be rude, R2!"  
"Whistle beep!"  
"All right, I'll ask!" 3PO turned to Data. "R2 would like to know the name of your maker."  
"My 'maker'—my father—was a cyperneticist by the name of Noonian Soong."  
"You consider your creator...your parent?"  
Data executed a mediocre imitation of a human shrug.  
"He considered me to be his son."  
Suddenly, Princess Leia ducked in the doorway.  
"3PO, have Han and Luke come back..." She caught sight of Data.  
"Er, hi."  
"Greetings."  
Leia stared into Data's yellow eyes.  
"Uh...HAN!"  
Han came running.  
"Wha...oh."  
He gestured to the android.  
"Leia, Data. Data, Leia."  
Suddenly, Chewie stuck his head in.  
"Raaaaaaagh!"  
"All right, I'm coming! You droids get started on the hyperdrive! I'll be back!"

The wookie returned to the cockpit, dragging Han behind him.  
"What's with you?"  
"Raaaaaaaaah!"  
"The Empire? Here?"  
Han checked the subspace radio, and sure enough, several transmissions picked up by their subspace radio were from the Empire, advising all industries and businesses to join up.  
"Graaaaaagh!"  
"I know. We need to get out of here."

Data glanced around the Falcon. The ship looked old, and was a bit of a wreck—no matter what Han insisted.  
Be that as it may, he found their hyperdrive most intriguing.  
_This engine differs greatly from the Enterprise-D's matter/antimatter reactors._  
A related bit of information suddenly came up in his thought process:  
_Geordi would be very interested in this "hyperdrive."_  
He immediately canceled that train of thought. Geordi was hundreds of light-years and a black hole away. Data knew that there was no use in lingering on his memories, but there was no way to keep his thought process from opening his files on his friends, short of deleting them from his brain.  
_Delete files? Y/N_  
_Deletion canceled._  
Although that would be the more logical course of action, as it would enable him to focus fully on the situation at hand, Data couldn't bring himself to do so.  
_Despite that the odds of me ever communicating with Geordi again are astronomical, I would prefer to keep my memories of him and the others._  
And, despite the selfishness of the desire, Data found himself hoping that they would remember him, too.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:  
Leia found her gaze drawn to the droid's realistic hands as he worked; Data's actions were delicate and precise as he began repairs on the hyperdrive.  
All of a sudden, his mesmerizing fingers ceased all movement—the occurrence would have been unnoticeable had Leia not been watching so carefully. She glanced up to his face, but his expression was unreadable.  
"Data?"  
"Yes Miss Leia?"  
"You stopped working for a moment. Is something wrong?"  
"No, I was simply thinking."  
"About what?"  
Data glanced up, golden eyes large and wide. She seemed genuinely curious about what could be perturbing the android.  
After a brief pause, Data finally responded: "I was remembering a...friend."  
"Another droid?"  
"No, a human."  
Now it was Leia's turn to look surprised.  
"How did you become friends with a human?"  
"Geordi LaForge is not like any other person I have ever known." Data was still facing Leia, but his gaze went past her, scanning information and memories only he could see. "He was born blind, and could only see with the aid of a machine, so I think he understood what it is like to be considered mechanical—to be different."  
Leia stared at the android. Data stared back, tilting his head to one side.  
"What happened to him?" She finally asked.  
"He is thousands of light-years away, with the rest of my crew. I was using a shuttlecraft to obtain close-range readings on a mysterious astronomical body, but got sucked into a black hole in the process. I drifted on this side of the black hole for 67 years, 2 months, and 10 days before Captian Zed captured me."  
Leia was speechless. Although she knew from R2 that droids were capable of having loyalty to previous masters, she had never imagined that droids could feel the loss of an old friend, or even have human friends.  
"I...I'm sorry, Data. You must miss him."  
Data stiffly jerked his head up and down. Although he had resumed work on the hyperdrive during the conversation, his eyes still had that unfocused, faraway quality. Leia also remained deep in thought:  
"He looks so vulnerable.  
So...human."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:  
"Greetings Mr. Luke."  
Luke spun around; his focus on the glittering diamond stars outside had prevented him from noticing the android's approach.  
"Huh? Oh, hi Data."  
"What is...up?"  
Luke stared at Data for a moment, then chuckled.  
"Not much. I'm just thinking about how I wound up here."  
Luke meandered away from the viewport and plunked down on a crate near Data. After a moment's pause, the android stiffly sat down beside him.  
"I mean," Luke continued "when I was stuck back home on Tatooine, I thought I would never get to see the galaxy."  
Luke's gaze shifted back to the stars in the viewport.  
"And now I'm here on a starship with a rogue, a Wookie, and a princess—plus you and the other droids" he added hastily.  
"This is a rather unusual situation. How did you and the others...'wind' up here?"  
"Well, after I bought the droids from some Jawas, I discovered that R2 was carrying a message from Princess Leia to his old master, Obi Wan Kenobi. I got to talk to Obi Wan, and he told me that my father was a Jedi Knight, and that...that I should become one too." Luke laughed bitterly. "I thought he was crazy at first. Now I just wish he were still here."  
Data said nothing, but something in his gentle expression invited Luke to continue.  
"Anyway, after the clones...killed my Aunt and Uncle, I left with Obi Wan and the droids, and we hired Han and Chewie to take us to Princess Leia. She had been captured by the Empire-we rescued her, but Obi Wan...he didn't make it." Luke's face hardened. "Darth Vader killed him."  
Data was silent for a moment, taking in the story. Then, he spoke up softly.  
"I am sorry for your loss, sir."  
Luke met Data's gaze.  
"Protocol droids can fake it, but no droid can feel sympathy..." he thought. "And yet, it seems like he really means it." He smiled at the android.  
"Thanks, Data."  
Luke breathed out as a familiar voice echoed in his mind.  
_Learn to let go..._  
The gloom left Luke with his breath, and he brightened.  
"So, you said before you've had experience working on a starship?"  
Data noted the change in Luke's demeanor, but chose not to comment; if the Enterprise crew had taught him anything, it was the humans can change moods in a flash.  
"Indeed, I have worked aboard two different starships: the USS Trieste and the USS Enterprise-D."  
Luke's eyes widened.  
"You were in a fleet? But those don't sound like names of Empirical vessels.  
"I was, indeed, working in a starship flee. However, it was not this 'Empire.' Where I come from, there is an organization called the United Federation of Planets, which has a fleet of starships to carry out missions of exploration, diplomacy, and aid."  
"Wow...I've never heard of this 'Federation.' Was this a big organization?"  
"Yes, sir. There are 150 planets that are permanent members of the Federation, and Starfleet has about 30,000 ships. You do not know of the Federation because it is not present in this universe. The organization exists on the other side of the black hole through which my ship passed."  
"So, did the ships use androids like you for a lot of these kinds of jobs? Like making repairs and running the engines?"  
Data blinked.  
"No sir. I was the only android in Starfleet."  
"Really? So they just had crew members do that kind of work on the other ships?"  
Data cocked his head to the side.  
"Perhaps you misunderstand, sir: I was a member of my ship's crew."  
"An android...?" Luke's mouth dropped open. "Well, what was your rank?"  
"Lieutenant Commander. I was 3rd-in-command on the Enterprise."  
Luke's eyebrows shot up, and his jaw dropped even lower.  
"...3rd-in-command...?" He shook off his surprise. "Data, that's amazing!"  
Data's brow subtly knotted. He stared at Luke.  
"I mean...I just never imagined a droid being a commanding officer!" Luke smiled at Data.  
"Then again, I've never met a droid like you."  
The corners of Data's mouth lifted as well.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:  
"How's the hyperdrive coming?"  
"We are almost finished, sir."  
Han sighed in relief. He had to admit, buying an additional droid had been helpful in speeding up repairs. From the reports he had overheard on the subspace radio, the Empire was getting close.  
"BLAM!"  
Too close.  
"Han! What's going on?!" yelled Leia.  
"We're in trouble!"  
Tripping over the tools lying about, Han scrambled toward the cockpit.  
"Chewie! Get us out of here!"  
"AAAAARGH! GAAAAR AAAGH!"  
"What?"  
C-3PO spoke up. "He said that the Empirical ship has locked onto us with a tow cable!""  
"I KNOW WHAT HE SAID! CHEWIE, GET—"  
Han was silenced by a loud "THUD," followed closely by grating the sound of metal grating against metal. After a second's pause, sparks appeared around the perimeter of the Falcon's maintenance hatch.  
"They're boarding us." Leia whispered in horror.  
A muffled male voice rang out.  
"This ship and its passengers are wanted by the Empire. Cooperate and you will not be harmed."  
"Not without a fight." Luke pulled his lightsaber from his belt.  
"Leia!" Han smoothly tossed the Princess a blaster from a concealed stash in the wall—none too soon, as the hatch was blasted open, filling the room with sparks and smoke. The doorway filled with blaster shots, burning the walls behind the Falcon's crew. Han and Leia wasted no time in shooting back, and Luke started deflecting blasts with his lightsaber. With a growl, Chewbacca charged in, clutching his crossbow.  
"R2, 3PO, Data!" Han shouted. "Get out..."  
BLAM BLAM BLAM!  
The astrodroid and the protocol droid, who were rolling and shuffling to the door of the engine room, stopped and looked back. Instead of running for cover, Data had grabbed a blaster and fired three direct hits.  
He then turned to Han. "Excuse me, sir. What were you saying?"  
Han stared at Data, mouth open. He leaned toward Luke.  
"He's a battle droid?"  
Luke grinned back. "An android."  
Another series of blasts interrupted their conversation. Data, Luke, Han, Chewie and Leia began advancing toward the Emperial ship.  
"Try to take their cockpit!" Leia shouted. "If we can get in, we can detach the tow rope and get out of here!"  
They fought their way toward the ship. Chewie's animalistic viciousness, Data's mechanical efficacy, Han's speed, Leia's precision, and Luke's grace allowed them to plow straight through the defending group of clones.  
The group maneuvered their way into the cockpit. Chewie and Leia had had the crew against the wall with their hands up within seconds. As Han blasted the door panel, Data sat down at the controls and quickly managed to release the tow rope and reset the passwords for the controls, thus locking the ship's crew out of the computer system.  
"We are free to depart." Data said.  
"Let's go!"  
Luke quickly carved a hole in the cockpit door, and they made their escape.  
Upon reaching the controls of the Falcon, Data, Luke, Han, Chewie, and Leia found that R2 and 3PO had already set the calculations for the jump to lightspeed.  
"Punch it, Chewie!"  
The ship soared away, leaving the Empire's ship behind with nothing but an inaccessible cockpit and wild story for their superiors.  
"That..." Leia panted. "That was waaaaay too close."  
"Oh relax, Your Worship!" Han chuckled. "The Falcon and her crew remain undefeated!" He turned to Data. "The entire crew. Welcome aboard, buddy."  
Chewbacca growled in approval.  
"Thank you...Captain."  
Leia spoke up. "We should head to the nearest rebel base, and tell them that the Empire is occupying a new sector."  
"Alright. Data, I'd like you to double-check the hyperdrive. Make sure it's going to STAY in working order. Chewie, lay in our course."  
"Acknowledged."  
"Graaaagh."  
Data walked out of the cockpit, and had begun running the scans and tests on the hyperdrive when he heard the engines fire up. The ship may have been different, but the sensation of rapid acceleration was familiar, causing a related memory to emerge in his thought process.  
"Engage." Data whispered.


End file.
